by
John Bednarowskisportseditor@mdjonline.comThe Marietta Daily Journal

May 05, 2013 12:18 AM | 2352 views | 5 | 7 | |

Unable to finish off South Gwinnett on Friday, Logan Barnette and his Walton teammates will have to wait an extra two days to try again. Rain that drenched the metro-Atlanta area Saturday postponed the Raiders’ third game with the Comets, and forcing them — and McEachern in its series with Tift County — to try again Monday.
Staff photo by Kelly J. Huff

The heavy rains that moved through the metro-Atlanta area Saturday pushed two deciding Game 3s back a couple days.

McEachern and Walton will try to play the deciding games of their first-round Class AAAAAA state playoff series Monday — providing the weather cooperates. According to the National Weather Service, the forecast is for a 60-percent chance of rain with thunderstorms in the afternoon.

McEachern hopes to face Tift County at 4 p.m., while Walton will get its game against South Gwinnett started at 6 p.m. If rain postpones the games again, the game times will be the same for Tuesday, when the weather is forecasted to be sunny and dry.

Walton coach Shane Amos said he will be monitoring the weather throughout the school day Monday.

“I’ll watch the weather a silly amount,” he said. “If it were to rain 4 or 5 inches through (today), it may be difficult for me and one other coach to get the field ready in time.

“We’ll probably wait no later than 2 p.m. (on Monday), and then we’ll have to make a decision. If there is any way to play and keep the kids safe on the field, we’ll do it.”

With Tift County having to make the three-hour drive north back to Powder Springs, McEachern coach Dan Torrenti said he will have to make a call a lot sooner than Amos.

“It will be early,” Torrenti said on when he would talk to Tift coach Kyle Kirk, who wants to have his team travel as early as possible. “I’ll get to the field around 6:30 a.m. or 7 a.m. (to look at the situation), and I’ll try to catch them early and allow them to make the decision to wait another hour or two before starting their trip.”

Like Amos, Torrenti said the amount of rain that falls today and early Monday could force the game to Tuesday, just because the field may be too saturated.

“Our field drains well, but it doesn’t drain as well when it’s got 3 inches (of rain) on it,” he said.

Walton had the best chance of the two Cobb teams to avoid a Game 3.

The Raiders won their first game with South Gwinnett 10-3, then had a 6-0 lead in Game 2 before the Comets came back to win 7-6.

Amos said the extra time off may benefit his team.

“For us, losing Game 2 the way we did, the extra days probably helps because the momentum (South Gwinnett) had will have a chance to cool down a little bit,” he said.

McEachern is in the opposite position.

The Indians had their bats shut down in a 3-1 Game 1 loss, with Tift starter Zac Bullard pitching a three-hitter, and they faced more of the same through four innings of Game 2 before their bats woke up to produce 10 runs over the final three innings.

McEachern salvaged a doubleheader split with an 11-4 win.

“You can’t allow yourself to get caught up in these kind of things,” Torrenti said. “The best team is going to come out of this, and all we can do is control the controllables.”

With the games being pushed back, unless the Game 3 starters go the distance, Walton and McEachern could face their bullpens being overtaxed with the possibility of playing up to four games in four days.

Second-round series are scheduled to begin with doubleheaders Wednesday, and a potential third game Thursday.

“Whoever wins these games could be at a disadvantage heading into the next round,” Amos said.

Four local teams — Marietta, Kell, Pope and Mount Paran Christian — avoided the scheduling changes after sweeping their series Friday. Two others — Harrison and Hillgrove — were the victims of sweeps.

Wasn't this article about Walton and McEachern's Game 3s in Round 1 being rained out??? It is appalling that people get on here to bash a man of integrity and character. Joiner is a fine man and excellent coach, but he also taught kids about becoming men (responsibility, work ethic, character, integrity). Good riddance, WOW!!! Just appalling. Obviously, Torrenti did an excellent job. Their Win/Loss record speaks for itself. But to say they won a region title with the same team that Coach Joiner had is total ignorance on your part. McEachern made the State Playoffs in 2012. The other 3 teams from Region 4 (Harrison, Hillgrove and North Cobb)all made it to the Elite 8 in 2012. Obviously, those teams lost key contributors to graduation. So, you are not telling the ENTIRE story about the past. Just amazing that people use this forum to bash good people.

You don't have a clue what you are talking about. Coach Joiner is not a nice man nor has he ever been nice to his players. If you don't like the truth, don't read the paper.

INDIANS2013

|

May 07, 2013

Dear DDCCC,

Coach Joiner has not been a very nice person to anyone on this team this year including Coach T so no one really cares if he is proud or not. The team played at Hillgrove and he was there and many of the boys ran over to speak to him and he turned his back and walked away. Good riddance!!

DDCCCC, we'll have to interpret your comment as either made out of ignorance or sarcasm...or spoken by a Joiner supporter. Coach T played for the man but based on how he coaches the current team, that's about all he took from him. Well, that and the fact the Indians won a region title with essentially the exact same boys Joiner coached last season.

Not a coincidence.

*We welcome your comments on the stories and issues of the day and seek to provide a forum for the community to voice opinions. All comments are subject to moderator approval before being made visible on the website but are not edited. The use of profanity, obscene and vulgar language, hate speech, and racial slurs is strictly prohibited. Advertisements, promotions, and spam will also be rejected. Please read our terms of service for full guides